Turkey’s pursuit of strategic autonomy
Turkey is pursuing strategic autonomy and hegemony of the Eastern Mediterranean according to a paper released by Alexandros Diakopoulos, former National Security Advisor of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, and Nikos Stournaras, Research Assistant at the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP). The paper published by the leading Greek think tank presents in detail Turkish involvement in the wider region.
It analyses Ankara’s relations with NATO, Russia, and China, as well as its regional and peripheral neighbors, while also examining the “Blue Homeland” doctrine and Turkish efforts to assert itself in the Mediterranean.
“It is through this doctrine that Ankara seeks to dominate the Eastern Mediterranean, the mandatory point of passage for trade routes linking Europe to the Indian Ocean and, by extension, the markets of Southeast Asia,” states the report, adding that “by controlling the sea routes from the Black Sea and the Suez Canal to the Central Mediterranean, Turkey would control the major eastern transit routes to Europe and become the undisputable trans-regional power.”
“Understanding the ‘Blue Homeland’ as the heart of Turkey’s quest for strategic autonomy explains why Ankara remains an intransigently belligerent actor in the Eastern Mediterranean,” it states.
You can find the full report here.
